Telephones and Telecommunications

News about Telephones and Telecommunications, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

May. 29, 2015

James B Stewart Common Sense column examines growing power of technology companies like Netflix as they repeatedly lobby for and benefit from Obama administration's regulation of media industry and its embrace of net neutrality; holds Netflix has had a particularly strong voice in policies affecting long-entrenched telecommunication and cable interests. MORE

Apr. 15, 2015

Nokia is in advanced talks to merge with French-American rival Alcatel-Lucent, in deal that would further consolidate global telecommunications industry; combined company would have revenues of roughly $27 billion, and would be better poised to compete in industry that remains relatively unprofitable despite its rapid expansion. MORE

Mar. 31, 2015

Federal Communications Commission, after years of complaints from prison-rights groups and families of prisoners, is investigating prison phone system, which has mostly been unregulated; hundreds of millions of dollars in concession fees help drive phone charges as high as $1.22 per minute, compared with typical commercial rates of 4 cents a minute. MORE

Mar. 25, 2015

New York City's original area code, 212, is seen by many as status symbol; proliferation of cellphones has forced state regulators to prepare to add yet another area code for Manhattan, making numbers with the original 212 designation even harder to obtain; persistence of brokers who buy and sell 212 numbers is testament to fact that they are still seen by many as sign of being a true New Yorker. MORE

Dec. 18, 2014

Nick Bilton Disruptions column notes hack of Sony's communications has provided cautionary tale that is causing many people in Hollywood and other companies to eschew emails and texts in favor of meeting face to face or talking on phone. MORE

Dec. 13, 2014

Dec. 11, 2014

Review committee grants unanimous approval to plan by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasi's administration to convert city's aging pay phones to Wi-Fi hot spots; decision clears way for the installation of thousands of Wi-Fi sites across city over next decade. MORE

Dec. 10, 2014

Editorial expresses support for New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio administration's proposal, called LinkNYC, to set up Wi-Fi hot spots offering free high-speed Internet access at former pay phone kiosks across the city; urges administration to make sure that poorer neighborhoods have as much access as richer ones to these services. MORE

Dec. 4, 2014

Tensions between New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and city's comptroller Scott M Stringer heighten over proposal to replace city's public pay phones with Wi-Fi hot spots; Stringer asserts that de Blasio's plan will perpetuate digital class divide by providing faster service in more affluent neighborhoods; remarks are seen as stinging criticism for an administration that prides itself on being sensitive to inequality. MORE

Nov. 18, 2014

New York City officials plan to transform public telephone booths into about 10,000 Wi-Fi hot spots across city; kiosks will provide free Internet access, free domestic calls using cellphones or built-in keypad, charging station for mobile devices and access to city services and directions; project, known as LinkNYC, was awarded to CityBridge consortium, and will be paid for by advertising revenues from kiosks’ digital displays. MORE

Oct. 20, 2014

Hackers infiltrate computers at Foreman Seeley Fountain Architecture firm, running up $166,000 worth of phone calls from telephone numbers in Africa, in case that is indicative of a growing type of fraud; similar swindles cost victims, most of them small businesses, some $4.73 billion in 2013; customers of local phone carriers, who cannot afford to eat costs, are often left holding the bill. MORE

Sep. 29, 2014

Open federal contract to route phone calls and text messages in United States has prompted an unusual lobbying battle; winning company could replace Neustar as entity that essentially acts as air traffic controller for nation's phone system; Federal Communications Commission has recommended Swedish-based company Ericsson, but intelligence officials say foreign entity could put nation's surveillance secrets at risk. MORE

Aug. 31, 2014

Chuck Klosterman The Ethicist column answers question about whether to listen to message that someone unknowingly left on one's voice mail. MORE

Aug. 14, 2014

Editorial supports Pres Obama's opposition to deals between telecommunication companies and firms like Netflix and Amazon that would allow for faster delivery of video and other data to customers; agrees with Obama's assertion that such deals could stifle business and free communication; suggests FCC reclassify broadband Internet service as a telecommunications service, which would prevent big companies from engaging in unjust or unreasonable discrimination against content. MORE

Aug. 10, 2014

FYI column answers questions about telephone utility poles in New York's outer boroughs and significance of bulbs at subway station entrances. MORE

Jul. 5, 2014

Dan Barry This Land column notes Prairie Grove Telephone Company in Arkansas is an endangered breed in an ever-changing digital age; plans to disconnect company's last telephone booth, which was damaged by car accident, are aborted after Facebook campaign; it will be returned to its regular spot and remain a curio. MORE

Jun. 30, 2014

Verizon Communications is preparing to move its corporate offices from downtown Manhattan, returning to former New York Telephone building near Times Square; company's diminished presence parallels the steady erosion of demand for its original business, providing telephone service over landlines; nearly all of Verizon's profits come from its cellular operations. MORE

Jun. 27, 2014

Review of dozens of contracts reveals highly lucrative deals between phone companies, internet service providers and prisons that thrive on high rates and hidden fees charged to prisoners who have no other way of communicating with outside world; states, counties and cities, seeking to shore up dwindling budgets, have arranged substantial commissions from providers, driving up rates for inmates. MORE

Jun. 27, 2014

Germany will cancel its contract with Verizon Communications as part of fallout from continuing revelations by Edward J Snowden that American intelligence agencies had routine access to global data provided by telecom companies; is one of the first signs that companies in the United States are starting to lose business because of the scandal. MORE

Jun. 15, 2014

Teddy Wayne Future Tense column discusses Generation Y's obsession with text messaging; says concept of leaving voice mail is nearly obsolete and notes that data collected by Vonage and Pew confirm that teenagers are texting more and calling far less than they used to. MORE

Jun. 5, 2014

Op-Ed article by technology journalist Jon Brodkin warns push by AT&T and Verizon to eliminate traditional land-line service in favor of Internet-based phones could negatively affect 96 million Americans who are still dependent on land-line service; holds plan may subject such people, particularly those in rural areas, to technical problems and unregulated prices, as well as outages and isolation during storms and disasters; urges caution and consumer protection efforts during transition. MORE

May. 29, 2014

Gadgetwise column describes attempt to determine how to lower monthly bill for bundled cable, Internet and landline services from companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable by buying services individually. MORE

May. 27, 2014

Editorial calls on the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission to block or alter Comcast's $45 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable; warns deal will reduce competition in the already consolidated telecommunications industry, and significantly reduce consumer choice for high-speed Internet service; holds merger would give new company dangerous control over what consumers watch, read and listen to. MORE

May. 24, 2014

Changes to Federal Communications Commission's $4.5 billion program Connect America are upheld in federal appeals court despite objections by some phone companies; new initiatives focus on providing high-speed internet to rural communities rather than basic telephone service. MORE

May. 20, 2014

Editorial holds that AT&T has not yet demonstrated that its $48.5 billion acquisition of DirecTV will be good for consumers, calling on regulators to closely examine deal; expresses skepticism that merger will lead to increased competition in the telecommunications market and warns that it will likely encourage further consolidation. MORE

May. 15, 2014

Declassified documents from Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court say that in 2009 and 2010, a telephone company raised questions about legality of then-secret National Security Agency program that is systematically collecting records of Americans' calling habits. MORE

May. 1, 2014

David W Dunlap Building Blocks column; New York City plans to replace curbside pay phones, largely unused relics in age of smartphones, with thousands of 'public communications structures'; these structures will provide free Wi-Fi and enough standard telephone service to allow anyone to place free call to 911 or 311. MORE

Apr. 26, 2014

Newly declassified documents show that Federal District Court Judge Rosemary M Collyer rejected a major telephone provider's request to have Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court reconsider its approval of National Security Agency's bulk phone-records collection; decision upheld earlier ruling that there was no Fourth Amendment protections for metadata. MORE

Apr. 9, 2014

European Court of Justice strikes down European Union law, adopted in response to deadly terrorist attacks, that requires telecommunications companies to retain information about calls and emails for up to two years. MORE

Mar. 26, 2014

Pres Obama publicly endorses plan that Justice Department and intelligence officials have developed for sweeping overhaul of National Security Agency's phone call records program; says he believes new procedures will help preserve privacy while keeping program’s usefulness in fighting terrorism. MORE

Mar. 26, 2014

Editorial contends that if Pres Obama really wants to end the National Security Agency's bulk collection of Americans' telephone records, he can act unilaterally; questions why Obama feels he needs to wait for permission from Congress. MORE

Mar. 8, 2014

Mexico's new regulator makes ruling intended to break virtual monopolies in Mexican telecommunications and television broadcasting; ruling promises to redraw landscape of both industries as it takes direct aim at core businesses of Carlos Slim Helu, whose control over telephony here has made him one of world’s richest men, and Emilio Azcarraga, whose television channels play outsize role in country’s politics. MORE

Feb. 2, 2014

David Segal The Haggler column; federal regulators are capping the cost of interstate phone calls between prison inmates and those on the outside, but rates on calls made within a state can remain sky-high. MORE

Feb. 2, 2014

Editorial criticizes limits placed by government on how much Internet and telephone companies can reveal about demands from federal agencies for private data; expresses support for bills in Congress that call for much greater disclosure about data that companies have been ordered to turn over. MORE

Jan. 20, 2014

New online phone-call technology, which makes it possible to send huge volumes of calls at the same time, has made it easy for swindlers; they are duping millions of people out of valuable personal information or overwhelming switchboards for essential public services; latest phone schemes, many of which are difficult to track, are causing law enforcement deep concern. MORE

Jan. 18, 2014

Tara Siegel Bernard Your Money column weighs the need for landline telephone in cellular world and if it is worth the cost; says questions to consider include the state of wireless 911 service, what happens when power goes out and consumer protections. MORE

Jan. 12, 2014

Dial tone, loud buzzing sound heard on telephones to indicate when the line was free to make a call, was implemented by telephone provider Bell System in 1919. MORE

Jan. 7, 2014

Editorial welcomes action by Federal Communications Commission that prohibits price-gouging by private companies that provide interstate telephone service for prison and jail inmates; holds agency must remain vigilant for similar abuses involving video chat, email and voice mail. MORE

Jan. 5, 2014

Many people who work at home may go days without speaking a word aloud, conducting all professional and personal interactions by email, text or social media; trend appears to be part of continuing decline of telephone culture. MORE

Dec. 24, 2013

Editorial supports move by the Federal Communications Commission to allow AT&T and other phone companies to modernize telephone system by replacing conventional wires with wireless or fiber-optic connections; warns that despite changes, protections must be kept intact so that new system continues to provide emergency service when power goes out. MORE

Dec. 4, 2013

Senators Dianne Feinstein and Robert Menendez ask Obama administration to warn South Korea against allowing Chinese telecommunications firm Huawei to build large parts of a next-generation network for Seoul; they say it could give China entry points into the telecommunications networks and Web traffic of an important American ally. MORE

Nov. 20, 2013

Nov. 7, 2013

Central Intelligence Agency is said to be paying AT&T more than $10 million annually to assist with overseas counterterrorism investigations; agency, under voluntary contract, is exploiting company's vast database of phone records, including Americans' international calls; disclosure shows that agencies beyond National Security Agency are exploiting metadata with programs regulated by inconsistent patchwork of legal standards, procedures and oversight. MORE

Oct. 29, 2013

Federal Communications Commission adopts new rules requiring telephone companies to collect and report data on number of rural calls that go through; rules also offer incentives for phone service providers to improve their service. MORE

Oct. 15, 2013

Verizon Communications says that in wake of Hurricane Sandy it is too expensive to replace landlines on barrier island Mantoloking, NJ; move may presage the end of the lines across the nation within decade; nearly 40 percent of households use only wireless phones, and less than 10 percent have only landline phone service. MORE

Oct. 6, 2013

Caeli Wolfson Widger Lives essay notes her reluctance to talk on the phone, rather than e-mail or send text message; laments that this habit, which is commonplace today, has led her to avoid genuine needs of friends and family trying to get in touch. MORE

Sep. 13, 2013

Verizon, amid complaints from Fire Island residents, backs away from its plan to use wireless devices to replace traditional phone service in areas where copper wires were ruined by Hurricane Sandy; company says it will instead start laying fiber-optic cable to restore home phone service and Internet access. MORE

Sep. 12, 2013

Jose Manuel Barroso, European Commission president, calls for end to high fees charged for making mobile phone calls across national borders, seizing on one of few truly popular European initiatives at time of rising skepticism about European Union; plan for phasing out roaming fees is part of wider overhaul of telecommunications industry. MORE

Sep. 10, 2013

Pope Francis is both unnerving the Vatican and delighting the faithful by picking up the telephone and spontaneously calling people, earning him the nickname 'the Cold Call Pope;' Francis has been offering comfort and support to people over the phone during difficult times. MORE